Treasury Wine CEO reaffirms quality focus

By James Wells in Düsseldorf

Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) CEO David Dearie pointed to the company's new release Penfolds and Matua wines as embodying the company's strong commitment to quality at the ProWein exhibition in Germany.

Speaking exclusively to TheShout, Dearie said the TWE's recent half yearly earnings drop of 20 per cent was unfortunate but not unexpected as the company was executing a new a business strategy focused on premium wine.

"One of the reasons we were 20 per cent down was because with a focus on quality – there was less wine and therefore there was less to sell. I am pleased to see that with a shift towards quality, pricepoints are increasing," he said.

The TWE stand at ProWein focused on the Bin release from Penfolds. It contains 11 wines, including several from the 2010 vintage, which chief winemaker Peter Gago claims is arguably the finest since 1990.

The TWE stand was also strongly focused on the re-positioning of the Matua brand, previously Matua Valley.

Matua chief winemaker Nikolai St George told TheShout at ProWein that he was particularly pleased with the recent success of the brand, which has won more awards in the last 12 months than it has over the last 10 years.

The 2011 Matua Single Vineyard Marlborough Chardonnay won the O-I New Zealand Trophy for Champion Wine of Show and also the New World Trophy for Champion Chardonnay.

 "I’m thrilled and extremely honoured to start off 2013 with these wins for Matua. Honestly I have an amazing supportive team; we don't ever compromise on quality or taste. This win is humbling and it couldn't have come at a better time for our whole team, while we're in the middle of Vintage 2013," St George said.

Click on the video below to hear more from David Dearie on the Treasury Wine Estates stand at ProWein.